At least for now, Connecticut put an end to all that switching at No. 1.

The Huskies led The Associated Press’ men’s college basketball Top 25 Monday, their third straight week atop the rankings. Before that recent run, four consecutive polls had a change at No. 1. The only big change in the Top 10 was Kentucky’s fall from No. 2 to No. 8 after losing 65-56 to visiting Louisville. That snapped the Wildcats’ 27-game winning streak in the regular season.

Mississippi State moved into the rankings at No. 24, and Marquette moved back in at No. 25 after a one-week absence.

Connecticut (9-1) received 37 first-place votes and 1,711 points from the national media panel to easily outdistance second-ranked Duke (8-1), which had five No. 1 votes and 1,623 points in moving up a spot.

Georgia Tech (11-0) went from fourth to No. 3, its highest ranking since being second Feb. 4, 1986. The Yellow Jackets received 21 first-place votes.

No. 4 Arizona (7-1) and No. 5 Stanford (9-0) each moved up one place. The Wildcats had four No. 1 votes, one more than the Cardinal.

Wake Forest (7-0) jumped from eighth to No. 6 and had one first-place vote, while Oklahoma stayed at No. 7, followed by Kentucky, North Carolina and Saint Joseph’s.

Louisville jumped from 20th to 11th, trailed by Cincinnati, Kansas, Florida, Pittsburgh, Gonzaga, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Texas and Illinois.

Purdue, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Mississippi State and Marquette rounded out the Top 25.

Mississippi State (10-0) beat Tulane 72-50 in its only game last week. The Bulldogs, led by Baylor transfer Lawrence Roberts, have had only two close games this season, an 86-84 win over UAB and a 66-61 overtime win at Santa Clara.

Marquette (8-2) had been ranked in every poll since the preseason until falling out last week following a loss to Wisconsin. The Golden Eagles beat Florida A&M 83-63 last week.

Dayton (9-1), which was ranked in the last three polls, fell out from No. 23 following an 82-53 loss to Cincinnati.

Maryland (7-3) was in the last two polls, but the Terrapins dropped out from 24th after a 79-75 loss to Florida State in its Atlantic Coast Conference opener on Sunday.

Missouri (4-3) had the week’s biggest drop, from 11th to 23rd, after losses against Illinois and Memphis. Missouri, which was fifth in the preseason poll, has lost three of its last four games.

North Carolina is at Kentucky on Saturday in this week’s only matchup between ranked teams.

AP-ES-12-29-03 1707EST